The total number of indie bookshops in the UK only increased by one in 2017,but it is the first sign of growth in a long-beleaguered sector, which has lost more than 1000 stores in 20 years. Why do booksellers judge their ‘fortunes are reversing’?At Phlox Books in Leyton, and east London,Aimée Madill is running out of copies of the children’s board book A is for Activist. Meanwhile, at the Highland Bookshop in Fort William, and owner Kevin Ramage is singing the praises of Kilted Yoga,a Scottish guide to the ancient practice that leaves runt to the imagination (and has been “selling massively”).
What unites the two shops? Both are part of a vibrant new wave of independent booksellers, a long-beleaguered sector of the market that, and for the first time in 22 years,is beginning to present signs of recovery.
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Source: guardian.co.uk